EGU’s ‘Winning! Conference’ a resounding success

Sir Clive Woodward led an impressive array of presentations at the recent English Golf Union’s “Winning! Coaching Conference”.

Since the event was held in January at The National Golf Centre, Woodhall Spa, in front of a full house of nearly 100 delegates, the EGU has received excellent feedback and many positive comments.

The conference was delivered to both national and county coaching officials who had gathered from across England for two days of presentations, seminars and workshop activities.

Sir Clive provided an overview of the elite performance programme he is implementing with Melissa Reid, one of England’s most promising young women golfers, a programme which includes the EGU’s director of coaching, Peter Mattson, as part of the support team.

Information on this groundbreaking work combined with theories and recollections from the 2003 England Rugby World Cup confirmed Sir Clive was the ideal choice as the conference’s keynote speaker.

All the presentations during the event received great plaudits from the audience. These included Dr Roderick Thorpe’s lecture on Teaching Games for Understanding in Golf and presentations from Stuart Armstrong, England Golf, psychologist Dr Ian Maynard from Sheffield Hallam University, the EGU’s Peter Mattsson and Desmond Duffy and Richard Clifford and Anthony Hubbard from LPC Pharmaceuticals on the dangers posed for golfers of over-exposure to the sun.

There was also plenty of room in the programme to debate grass roots issues at county level and David Oldcorn, the EGU’s U21 squad manager, identified how representatives could communicate with one another beyond the event through the exchange of ideas across the counties. Kevin Cademy-Taylor, also told of his experiences in turning the Northumberland County coaching squad into a competitive team unit.

“The Winning! Conference was possibly our best ever!” commented Peter Mattsson, “With the work ethic and enthusiasm shown at county level over these two days and with the support and guidance of the governing bodies for golf in England, I feel we are making real progress towards a united vision for the future of golf in this country.”

Following the event’s success, dates for the next EGU Coaching Conference have been scheduled for Thursday and Friday 15th and 16th January 2009.

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